You've got to be some kind of trombonist to be referred to by many as "the world's greatest," but such is the case with Carl Fontana. One of the best-known and most revered trombonists in jazz, Fontana's legacy of musical technique, inventiveness, and his willingness to teach and mentor reverberate to this day.

Born in Monroe, Louisiana on July 18, 1928, Fontana got his first trombone from his dad, bandleader Charles "Collie" Fontana. Carl played in his dad's band as a teen and after graduating from Louisiana State University in 1950, played with the Lee Fortier Band. In 1951 lightning struck when Fontana thrilled the audience while filling in for Urbie Green in Woody Herman's band. The bandleader invited Fontana to join Woody Herman's Third Herd.

Fontana is most noted for developing the trombone technique known as "doodle tonguing," which he used to produce notes both faster and more precisely. Fontana jokingly referred to it as his method of self-defense against saxophone performers. The technique influenced legions of trombonists who followed Fontana in using it to produce full tone with fast-tongued notes. Fontana was also noted for blending bebop with mainstream jazz in his own swing-meets-bebop style

During his career, Fontana recorded 11 albums with Stan Kenton, toured Europe with Kai Winding, and performed with numerous other bands. In 1957 Fontana settled in Las Vegas where he performed with Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, and Frank Sinatra. Fontana also performed at annual University of Las Vegas concerts, festivals, and all-star jazz events while also mentoring at trombone clinics and master classes throughout North America.

Important Fontana recordings include 1985's The Great Fontana; 1997's The Carl Fontana-Arno March Quintet; Live at Capozzolis's; 1998's The Carl Fontana Quartet: Live at Capozzolis's; First Time Together and Quintet, Vol 3 in 2002; and the 2003 Conte Candoli Quintet (Live). The International Trombone Association awarded Fontana their highest honor in 1998. Fontana died in Las Vegas on October 9, 2003 following complications from Alzheimer's disease.

Honored as the first outdoor music festival devoted exclusively to jazz in the United States, the July 17, 1954 debut at Newport included such luminary performers as Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holliday, and others before a crowd of 11,000 fans. Then called the "First Annual American Jazz Festival," impresario and jazz pianist George Wein cooked up the idea for the Newport event with tobacco heiress Elaine Lorillard. The gathering was an instant success hailed by major newspapers and magazines and indelibly linking jazz with the town of Newport, Rhode Island.

The festival's formula of showcasing numerous world-class acts packed into a scant number of summer days was so successful that it has since been widely imitated. The festival quickly outgrew its original venue in the Newport Casino, yet using both the grounds of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Fort Adams State Park it continues to present established jazz names alongside talented unknowns. Set beside Newport's stunning coast and man-made marvels of architecture, jazz fans annually enjoy three days of quintessentially American music performed by some of the best known names in jazz, and some who will soon go on to be well-known.